| j5 OMS |
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Operations Management System j5 OMS is a broad range of hardened web applications that manage, control, organize & log the Operating Processes in industrial sites. Click here for more information... |
| j5 Logbook |
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The pure Web Server version!! Make operator logs work for you! Industrial, proven, configurable. Oracle, SQL Server, Access web-server based. Click here for more information... |
| j5 HandoverBook |
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The j5 HandoverBook is an electronic tool designed to effectively manage the information flow between outgoing and incoming shifts. Click here for more information... |
| Industrial Knowledge Base |
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Why create a Networked Knowledge Base?Knowledge Base: This technical paper poses three key operational questions: What's the point of a Knowledge base? Each one of us has an enormous store of knowledge that enables us to do our jobs efficiently. We all develop our own way of trying to keep track of this information. Some of us use Post It notes, some of us try to track the information in diaries. Most of our home built tracking systems don't work that well even for ourselves. Although we are amazed at the amount of knowledge there is "out there", we are equally frustrated at how simply agonizing it can be to get hold of even the simplest piece of information. Dare I say we sometimes can't even find our own information let alone get information from one of our colleagues who could be on a different shift. Gulp! In fact, we probably find that a very large proportion of our time is spent "Looking for the Knowledge" and not "Using the Knowledge"! So I hear you say. "Why don't we provide an easy tool that will enable all our workers to make a note of all their important information and then collectively network that information so that everyone on the site can get any of the knowledge using a powerful search technique?" Indeed! Why don't we? What do we stand to gain by networking our Knowledge? What if there was an easy to use tool that enabled all of us to quickly organize our information and for that information and everyone else's' information to be right at our fingertips at the click of a button. What would that actually give us? Would it mean:
In fact, the moment you put in a networked knowledge system, you will suddenly notice that everyone on site starts "talking the same language" We start building on the knowledge, not spending our time scratching to find it. But an Industrial Knowledge base System is much more than just a replacement for our swarms of Post It notes!. ..Much much more. We put together a quick wish list of what we would like? Please read on... What do we want from a Networked Knowledge Base? So, if we are going to replace our myriad's of home-built knowledge tracking systems, what are the capabilities we would be looking for? Our wish list would probably look something like this: Easy to Use: It's got to be much easier to use than our existing system. Networkable and Affordable: Instead of having to track down the information by phoning or physically hunting it down, we should be able to find it directly using our Intranet Browser on our computer in our own offices. Configurable: Every site has different requirements; no two sites are alike. The networked Knowledge base must be highly configurable to satisfy our needs. I.e.
Minimal Administration: We may quickly have 10, 20 or 30 users all having access to the knowledge base so we want the system to support floating licenses to that anyone can get the info. And we don't want to have to load any software on the user computers. I.e. we want a true Zero Client Application. Database of Our Choice: If we are going to store the information electronically, we may as well have them stored in a database that we can integrate with the rest of our system. This means we will be able to start tying together things like the Quality data and the Knowledge Information into a single report. Or start getting statistics on how often a particular problem occurs. Above all, we want the information to be accessible via our normal skill set. Configurable User Personalities: We should be able to give different users different capabilities depending on who they are. For example, some users should be only able to add knowledge for certain areas, some users should only be able to see certain information that is related to specific areas, others may need to be logged off at the end of a shift etc. What we need is a flexible, industrial user management system. Searching and Filtering: We want to be able to quickly and easily find the particular information that we are looking for. It must be possible, for example to type in keywords like "Filter 3" and to immediately see all the knowledge relating to Filter 3. If you are interested in taking the Knowledge base idea further, have a look at the next section. It is an easy way to get started. St. James Software's KnowledgeBook: An easy way to get started... First, a quick look at an Industrial Knowledge Base Application: St. James Software's KnowledgeBook KnowledgeBook is a corporate wide networked Knowledge base system designed for Industrial conditions. KnowledgeBook is designed to efficiently collect and distribute the information to the complete spectrum of personnel who need this information. (Managers, Supervisors, Maintenance Engineers, Technical Personnel, Process Engineers etc. KnowledgeBook is also completely configurable so that it can be made to fit the special requirements of virtually any Industrial Site.
To get started, try out either of our demos (an on-line web based version or a downloadable standalone version.) Databases: The demo will work with Access, SQL Server, Oracle or Postgres. License: Use the web based version as often as you like or download a fully functional demo (incorporating all the configuration functions) and valid for a period of 30 days from the download page. Demo Description: The demo is based on an Alumina Processing Site as shown in the diagram above. Of course, if you would like to change the demo, you can add your own logs or add fields to the tables and change the look and feel of the presentation. |
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